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This is nothing more than a speculative editorial on what’s happening, and possibly happening, in Calgary… Alberta, Canada. Let’s be serious for a minute and briefly take a look at Nieuwendyk’s tenure as the GM of the Dallas Stars.

I realize ThatDamnDoubleC is a Dallas fan, and his his biases against Joe joining the Flames (if such is the case). And some of those extend to his history as a player, which is notwithstanding, nor a knock at my Stars’ fan pal. Oh, don’t forget he helped The Stars win their only Stanley Cup in franchise history, so he has that going for him as well. He also helped The Flames win THEIR only cup in franchise history, but I digress. But this isn’t a diatribe about his playing days, nor should he be judged as a potential GM for the Calgary Flames based on these facts as well.

So with today’s announcement by bed-head Brian Burke of the firing of Jay Feaster as the GM of The Calgary Flames, rumors are running wild (dude, brother, dude) that Joe is on his way back to Cowtown…

However, Nieuwendyk might have gotten some poor returns on Morrow, Modano and Roy, realistically the first two of those were well on their way out… and Roy, who knows what happened to that guy. It’s probably for the best they got rid of him.

Stop thinking about Jagr. I suspect he’ll be on a different team every season until he retires. I secretly think he is trying to collect as many jerseys as he can while getting paid to do so.

Losing James Neal was a tough pill to swallow. Dirty player or not. Of course playing with the Pens does pad one’s stats just a wee bit. Alex Goligoski has done a fairly decent job as a puck-moving defenceman, and quite frankly, that’s something every single team in the NHL is always looking for.

I’m sure a Dallas fan does not lament the acquisitions of Kari Lehtonen, Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon.

And one must consider he inherited a team that had pretty much nothing in developmental outside of Jamie Benn, Richard Bachman and Philip Larsen, and then had his budget dramatically slashed by ownership. And currently, under Joe’s guidance,

So if Mr. Nieuwendyk does become Brian Burke’s new whipping boy, I don’t think his situation will be too terrible. The Flames have some potential in goalie development. They have a few assets they can still move. They also have some rookies in the cupboard. While it will be a semi-similar situation to what he inherited in Dallas, he will have one very important thing available to him he did not have in Texas. Money to spend.

The developers of NHL have released more details on their upcoming NHL 14, scheduled to release September 10 in North America.

Details have been released about Be A GM and GM Connected!

You want to be a real-life General Manager? Well now you can, and just like former GM of the Dallas Stars, you can be really really crappy at your job, make rubbish trades, and get fired! Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

Full details on the Be a GM and GM Connected modes, can be found at the link below:

Free Agency. That period of your career, where if you are good enough, or find a GM dumb enough, you could score yourself a pretty sweet contract. But this comes with a warning, you may not even get a contract at all. In fact, there are players out there right now, who most people thought would have received day one, and yet, still sit un-signed without a team.

April 29 saw the 2013 NHL Draft Lottery take place, which would decide the draft order from 1 to 14 in the upcoming draft, decided by the 14 teams that did not make the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This was the order of placing, and their odds going into the lottery.

Rank

Team

% of Winning

Points

1

Florida Panthers

25.0

36

2

Colorado Avalanche

18.8

39

3

Tampa Bay Lightning

14.2

40

4

Nashville Predators

10.7

41

5

Carolina Hurricanes

8.1

42

6

Calgary Flames

6.2

42

7

Edmonton Oilers

4.7

45

8

Buffalo Sabres

3.6

48

9

New Jersey Devils

2.7

48

10

Dallas Stars

2.1

48

11

Philadelphia Flyers

1.5

49

12

Phoenix Coyotes

1.1

51

13

Winnipeg Jets

0.8

51

14

Columbus Blue Jackets

0.5

55

The lottery results however, showed a slightly different story. They showed that being the worst team in the NHL, doesn’t necessarily grant you the First Overall Pick, as the Colorado Avalanche move up from 2 to 1, at the expense of the Florida Panthers, who take the 2 spot. Otherwise, there was a status quo with all other positions, meaning the draft order for the first 14 picks in the draft at the moment, are as follows:

Welcome one and all. It is finally here, the beginning of the Ultimate Hockey Fighter Tournament. 32 of hockey’s best fighters square off in a single-elimination tournament to determine just who is the Ultimate Hockey Fighter.

Wildcards are now a perfect 5 for 5 as Joey Kocur defeated Mick Vukota in last week’s matchup.

This week sees a modern day Devil against a fighter with a season of over 400PIMs.

Welcome one and all. It is finally here, the beginning of the Ultimate Hockey Fighter Tournament. 32 of hockey’s best fighters square off in a single-elimination tournament to determine just who is the Ultimate Hockey Fighter.

This is the second part of a double header for this week. The first part can be found here.

This matchup sees a 7-team veteran, and resident drunk driver, against a skater with 250+ fights in his resume.

Ah, Dallas. The team that, like Buffalo, seem to narrowly miss the playoffs every year, and like nobody, seem to lose their star Center to Free Agency because we refuse to accept any trades. But in this, a shortened season, could luck change for the Stars, and give their fans a playoff run?

Dallas weren’t shy in Free Agency, signing veteran wingers Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney, as well as signing defensemen Aaron Rome and Tyler Sloan to cover for losing forwards Adam Burish (San Jose), Jake Dowell (Minnesota), and veteran Sheldon Souray (Anaheim). But the big impact was made by Dallas in trading. Their leader of sorts on the ice, Steve Ott, was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, along with D Adam Pardy for C Derek Roy. Roy should help with an offense that was 30th on the PP last season, but losing Ott shows that the Stars may be leaning away from the toughness mentality they’ve developed over the past few seasons.

Also departing was Mike Ribeiro. The 60-point scorer from last season, was sent to the Washington Capitals, in exchange for C Cody Eakin and a 2nd Round pick (Mike Winther). Ribeiro hadn’t scored less than 50 points in the last eight seasons, but was traded in a shake-up that not only affected the Forwards. D Mark Fistric was also traded to the Edmonton Oilers for a Third Round pick in the 2013 Draft. This leaves Dallas with a somewhat inexperienced defensive core, centred around Trevor Daley, Alex Goligoski and the oldest defensive player on the roster at 35, Stephane Robidas. Dallas need upcoming players like Jordie Benn, Philip Larsen and Brendon Dillon to step up and make it to the next level, and aspiring stars like Jamie Oleksiak to be ready in the wings when called upon.

The Goaltending however, is something that the Stars won’t have to worry about for years to come. Kari Lehtonen may be 29, but he is in that group along with Jimmy Howard (Detroit), and Antti Niemi (San Jose) of great Goalies, but not as elite as the likes of Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) and Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles). Richard Bachman is a more than capable Backup, and with arguably the replacement G for Ryan Miller in Team USA in Jack Campbell applying his trade at the AHL-Affiliate Texas Stars, the Goaltending looks locked in for the next ten to fifteen years.

The big question remains, can the Stars, with all the moves made in the off-season, make the playoffs? The inclusion of Jagr and Whitney should improve the Stars offensively, especially on the Powerplay where they were ranked last overall last season, but can the up and coming defensive unit of the Stars, help them get across the line? The Stars will be one of those teams fighting for that seventh and eighth spot come playoff time, but it all depends on one thing. Re-sign Jamie Benn before the season starts, and they make it. Don’t re-sign Jamie Benn before the season starts, and I’m afraid the Stars may just miss out again.

Follow yours truly on Twitter @ThatDamnDoubleC. I suppose you’d better follow our wrestling site Bored Wrestling Fan @BrdWrstlngFn as well. Also, don’t forget to vote in the Ultimate Hockey Fighter Tournament on this very page! Just scroll down to find the latest matchup.